Mafia hitman explains how much it costs to take someone out

Can you put a price on person's life? What about their murder?

A real Mafia hitman has explained how much he would typically charge to take someone out - and says it with such nonchalance that I'd recommend never crossing this guy or anyone like him.

The interviewee, Max Kurschner, operated under the alias Joey the Hitman and had just written a book about his life as a mid-level Mafioso.

You're probably thinking; writing a book about the secrets of the Mafia is pretty risky business. But this guy was no amateur.

In his tell all book, published in 1973, 'Joey' the Hitman claims to have killed 38 men - with 35 being 'contract' Mafia killings, and the remaining three being his own revenge killings on men who had previously tried to kill him.

In fact, 'Joey' was so confident in himself that he spoke even more candidly about his dangerous lifestyle on American talk show The David Susskind Show, getting into all the nitty gritty details.

Asked how much he would charge for murdering a man, 'Joey' plainly replied: "Today, it's 20 G's ($20,000), a flat 20 G's".

Now, $20,000 might seem like an offensive price, but this was filmed about four decades ago.

So you can rest easy knowing that if someone had been paid to kill you, they were probably charged more than a flat $20k.

The David Susskind Show

The hitman went on to say that if he was asked to take out a hit on someone 'exceptional', it'd cost a lot more.

"Like when they wanted to hit Joey Gallo, the price was 50 grand but I turned it down."

Asked why he refused that job, the killer explained: "Because I like Joey Gallo, he was a good friend of mine, he was an honourable kid, I don't care what any of these monkeys have got to say."

Joe Gallo, who was also known as 'Crazy Joe', was a well-known New York mobster back in the day.

The gangster had been out for dinner in Little Italy with his family in April 1973 when he was shot to death by four gunmen.

But our hitman 'Joey' says he wasn't involved in that shoot-out.

When he does take a job, the hitman takes his money in advance, explaining that there isn't so much an official contract to get the hit done.

"Oh, when you take that money, your contract is your word, your word is your bond."

And if someone pays this guy to take someone out and then changes their mind?

"I keep the money", he said.

So, if you've saved up all your coins for a good old-fashioned hit, be sure you're going to stick it out, or you could find yourself out of pocket - because there's no way you're getting your money back from this guy.